Written by David Lewis on Feb 1, 2008. Posted in Incentive News

BC boosts production services tax credits - 18% to 25%

The province of British Columbia has boosted its production service tax credits, matching a recent rise in credits in Ontario and Quebec.

The tax credit for foreign-financed productions will rise from 18 per cent of labour costs to 25 per cent, while the credit for local and qualifying coproductions, Film Incentive BC, will rise from 30 per cent to 35 per cent. The new terms apply retroactively to all projects that were in production after December 31, 2007 and will run until then the end of 2010.

The changes were announced by the province’s finance minister Carole Taylor on Friday. BC production sector is worth more than $1bn, almost 80 per cent of which is service work. As a result, the province has been hit hard by the WGA strike. What little production underway is expected to dry up once the various series have exhausted their backlog of scripts.

The Film Incentive BC scheme also includes a regional credit of 12.5 per cent for productions filmed outside the designated Vancouver area, a film training tax credit for approved training programs and a digital animation or visual effects credit of 15 per cent.

The Production Services Tax Credit scheme includes a regional credit of six per cent for productions filmed outside the designated Vancouver area and a digital animation or visual effects credit of 15 per cent.